Descrizione del progetto
Orsi delle caverne: verificare le cause della loro estinzione
Gli orsi delle caverne abitavano l’Europa e l’Asia migliaia di anni fa. Il progetto RESOURCEFUL, finanziato dall’UE, si concentrerà su queste specie preistoriche di orsi studiando l’effetto dell’interazione fra comportamento e struttura della popolazione sul rischio di estinzione nelle specie che dipendono da risorse fisse sotto il profilo geografico. Per farlo, combinerà la modellazione teorica della popolazione con la paleogenomica. Il lavoro del progetto porterà allo sviluppo di un modello computazionale spazialmente esplicito delle popolazioni di orsi delle caverne e di un campione a livello di popolazione di genomi di orsi delle caverne rumeni contemporanei, contribuendo ad aprire la strada a una maggiore comprensione dell’effetto della competizione umana per le caverne sull’estinzione degli orsi delle caverne.
Obiettivo
This MSC Action will investigate the interplay of behaviour, climate, and human pressure on species extinction, using a highly interdisciplinary approach uniting theoretical population modelling with palaeogenomics. This MSC Action will investigate the interplay of behaviour and population structure on extinction risk in species that rely on geographically fixed resources. It will focus on long extinct cave bears by utilising a highly interdisciplinary approach uniting theoretical population modelling with palaeogenomics to test the causes of their extinction. The host organisation, Prof. Manicas UCAM Group, is a world-leading research group in population genetics and modelling. I will be provided with training and development opportunities that allow me to build a spatially explicit computational model of cave bear populations that use multiple caves for hibernation. Development of my existing knowledge of palaeogenomics during secondment in Dr. Barlows TNTU Lab will allow me to assemble a population level sample of contemporaneous Romanian cave bear genomes to further refine the model based on empirical data. Finally, this refined cave bear population model will allow, for the first time, a detailed and statistically robust assessment of the effect of human competition for caves on cave bear extinction. This MSC Action provides numerous opportunities for my training and personal development, by locating myself in the world-leading UCAM Group, attendance of five formal training courses, and further opportunities during the secondment and visits to other labs. It will result in internationally significant research outputs that will be disseminated to the scientific community via publications and presentations, as well as to different target audiences via public engagement, media and teaching activities. Moreover, it will provide numerous vital steps towards my ultimate career goal of establishing a world-leading research group within the field of palaeogenomics
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinatore
CB2 1TN Cambridge
Regno Unito